Embodied learning: Responding to AIDS in Lesotho's education sector

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Children's Geographies, 7(1), 2009. Copyright @ 2009 Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14733280802630981.In contrast to pre-colonial practices, education in Lesotho's formal school system has historically assumed a Cartesian separation of mind and body, the disciplining of students' bodies serving principally to facilitate cognitive learning. Lesotho has among the highest HIV-prevalence rates worldwide, and AIDS has both direct and indirect impacts on the bodies of many children. Thus, students' bodies can no longer be taken for granted but present a challenge for education. Schools are increasingly seen as a key point of intervention to reduce young people's risk of contracting the disease and also to assist them to cope with its consequences: there is growing recognition that such goals require more than cognitive learning. The approaches adopted, however, range from those that posit a linear and causal relationship between knowledge, attitudes and practices (so-called ‘KAP’ approaches, in which the role of schools is principally to inculcate the pre-requisite knowledge) to ‘life skills programmes’ that advocate a more embodied learning practice in schools. Based on interviews with policy-makers and practitioners and a variety of documentary sources, this paper examines a series of school-based AIDS interventions, arguing that they represent a less radical departure from ‘education for the mind’ than might appear to be the case. The paper concludes that most interventions serve to cast on children responsibility for averting a social risk, and to ‘normalise’ aberrant children's bodies to ensure they conform to what the cognitively-oriented education system expects

Precise Determination of Proton Spin-Precession Angles in the K600 Spectrometer and Beamline

This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation Grant NSF PHY-931478

The discursive construction of childhood and youth in AIDS interventions in Lesotho's education sector: Beyond global-local dichotomies

This is the post-print version of this article. The definitive, peer-reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Environment and Planning D,Society and Space 28(5) 791 – 810, 2010, available from the link below. Copyright @ 2010 Pion.In southern Africa interventions to halt the spread of AIDS and address its social impacts are commonly targeted at young people, in many cases through the education sector. In Lesotho, education-sector responses to AIDS are the product of negotiation between a range of ‘local’ and ‘global’ actors. Although many interventions are put forward as government policy and implemented by teachers in schools, funding is often provided by bilateral and multilateral donors, and the international ‘AIDS industry’—in the form of UN agencies and international NGOs—sets agendas and makes prescriptions. This paper analyses interviews conducted with policy makers and practitioners in Lesotho and a variety of documents, critically examining the discourses of childhood and youth that are mobilised in producing changes in education policy and practice to address AIDS. Focusing on bursary schemes, life-skills education, and rights-based approaches, the paper concludes that, although dominant ‘global’ discourses are readily identified, they are not simply imported wholesale from the West, but rather are transformed through the organisations and personnel involved in designing and implementing interventions. Nonetheless, the connections through which these discourses are made, and children are subjectified, are central to the power dynamics of neoliberal globalisation. Although the representations of childhood and youth produced through the interventions are hybrid products of local and global discourses, the power relations underlying them are such that they, often unintentionally, serve a neoliberal agenda by depicting young people as individuals in need of saving, of developing personal autonomy, or of exercising individual rights.RGS-IB

Gender differences in experiences and expectations of haemodialysis in a frail and seriously unwell patient population

Introduction Surprisingly few studies have explored the experiences of seriously unwell people with kidney disease on haemodialysis therapy: we conducted a mixed-methods study to investigate gender differences in illness experience, symptom burden, treatment considerations or expectations in this cohort. Methods Seriously unwell people on haemodialysis (1-year mortality risk of >20%) at three hospital-based units were invited to take part in a structured interview or to complete the same questions independently via a questionnaire. 54 people took part (36 males, 18 females); data analysis was undertaken using a thematic approach. Results ‘Desire to keep living’ is the most important and basic thought process when starting dialysis. Fear also predominates influencing risk assessment and decision-making. Once fear is managed, there are physical, social, practical and emotional issues to rationalise, but choice only seems possible if shared decision-making is part of the consultation. Gender differences were seen in perceived hopes and expectations of treatment. Males were more likely to prioritise achievement of physical goals, with females prioritising a wish to feel well. Both genders reported significantly higher symptom scores than their healthcare provider perceived, however this difference was more marked in females. Dialysis regret existed in >50% of participants and 6/54 (11%) stated that they would have chosen no dialysis at all. Females were more likely to report feeling depressed (P=0.001). Conclusion Different genders approach treatment decisions and prioritise treatment expectations differently. Recognising this will allow personalised care plans to be developed and improve the experiences of seriously unwell people with kidney disease

Gamow-Teller Strengths for Neutrino Detectors

This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation Grant NSF PHY-931478

Using evolutionary demography to link life history theory, quantitative genetics and population ecology

1. There is a growing number of empirical reports of environmental change simultaneously influencing population dynamics, life history and quantitative characters. We do not have a well-developed understanding of links between the dynamics of these quantities

Young people today: news media, policy and youth justice

The new sociology of childhood sees children as competent social agents with important contributions to make. And yet the phase of childhood is fraught with tensions and contradictions. Public policies are required, not only to protect children, but also to control them and regulate their behaviour. For children and young people in the UK, youth justice has become increasingly punitive. At the same time, social policies have focused more on children's inclusion and participation. In this interplay of conflict and contradictions, the role the media play is critical in contributing to the moral panic about childhood and youth. In this article, we consider media representations of “antisocial” children and young people and how this belies a moral response to the nature of contemporary childhood. We conclude by considering how a rights-based approach might help redress the moralised politics of childhood representations in the media

The Indiana University Neutron Polarization Facility (INPOL)

This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation Grant NSF PHY-931478